mined to hear nothing from him but the words, "I retract; these Luther was determined not to utter. Then he delivered his protest in writing, maintaining his desire for truth, his humble readiness to be convinced of error, the worthlesness of Indulgences, the fallibility of the Pope. The Cardinal threw down his protest, and attempted to browbeat him by words and subtilties from the Papal constitutions. Luther caught him in his own toils, and utterly confounded him, which ended the conference. The Reformer's words pierced deep into the heart of the Legate. After some intercession on the part of Luther's friends, they left Augsburg, fearing danger for themselves, and he himself wrote a humble epistle to the Legate, acknowledging his temper and rashness, but not abating in the least, the convictions of his conscience. The Legate had promised to write to Luther, but no word came, and he was left in suspense. Fearing danger, his friends advised him to flee, leaving behind him an appeal to the Pope, and a letter to the Cardinal. He left Augsburg by dark, in safety, and made a kind of triumphal journey through the country, his enemies being enraged at his escape from their grasp. It was at Nuremberg that Luther first saw the Pope's brief concerning him, which filled him with indignation. The baffled Legate then wrote an angry letter to the Elector, demanding him to expel Luther from his territories, and send him to Rome. Frederick made this known to the Reformer, who wrote him in reply an earnest and touching letter, which won upon the heart of Frederick and led him to communicate with the Emperor. The Elector then wrote an expostulatory letter to the Legate, and declined his demands. Luther, by the advice of the Elector, determined to leave Wittemberg, though ignorant where to take refuge. He invited his friends to a farewell repast. Two letters were presented to him at table from the Elector, the first ordering him to hasten his departure, the second allowing him to delay, as the Pope's new envoy thought everything might be settled. Luther then published an account of the Augsburg conference. The Legate's ill success lost him favor at Rome. The Pope wished to keep good terms with the Elector, on account of the approaching election of an Emperor. He therefore published a Bull confirming the doctrine of Indulgences, without mentioning Luther or the Elector. Luther then appealed from the Pope, to a General Council of the Church.

Book V. Vol. II. pp. 1-86. The Leipsic Discourse, 1519.

An appeal from the Pope to a General Council, even by an Emperor, was by a Bull of Pius II. sentenced with the greater excommunication. Leo seemed for a moment to take the part of gentleness. He sent his Chamberlain, Miltitz, a German, as his Legate to Frederick, to sound him and win him over. While Luther's friends were trembling for him, an event occurred which changed the face of things. The Emperor Maximilian died, and Frederick became administrator of the Empire, above the reach of petty tyranny. Some consequent political movements were of more absorbing interest than the remission of sins. During this temporary hush, Luther's views made progress. Miltitz presented himself before Spalatin, and charged Luther with heresy; Spalatin broke into loud complaints of Tetzel, who, feeling the indignation of the people, had retired to the College of St. Paul at Leipsic. Miltitz's wrath was thus turned against Tetzel. He summoned him to appear and answer for his conduct. The coward refused, on pretence that Luther's friends would murder him. Luther then had two interviews with Miltitz, in which it was agreed that both sides should hereafter be quiet on the question that had been raised, and that if a Bishop, appointed by the Pope, should convince him of error he would retract. The Chamberlain treated the Reformer with crocodile tenderness. He was glad to win him only in appearance, for he had the best reason to know how deep a root the Reformation had already taken. Miltitz then went to Leipsic, and calling Tetzel before him reprimanded him severely, detected him in purloining the money obtained by Indulgences, and so exposed him to all parties, that the miserable man soon after died a miserable death. In fulfilment of his promise Luther then wrote a humble letter to the Pope, professing his willingness to retract, if proved wrong, and solemnly asserting that he would never weaken, by force or artifice, the power of the Roman Church or of his Holiness, unless for the cause of Jesus Christ the Lord of all. But Leo was then manoeuvring to exclude Charles of Austria from the Imperial throne. Luther, in the mean while, was studying the decretals of the Popes, and then first whispered in the ear of Spalatin, that he thought the Pope Antichrist. He then escaped the machinations of the two baffled Legates, who endeavored, in vain, to get him to Treves. The writings of the Reformer were printed at Basle and distributed over Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, England, and even Italy. They diffused

joy; and in the multitude of their new converts, Luther seemed for a time to be in peace, and the Reformation at a stand. The peace was broken by Rome herself. Eck, the scholastic doctor, who had won prizes in eight Universities, entered the lists against Luther, in a controversy with Carlostadt, who had published Theses in accordance with the opinions of the Reformer. Eck, to show his prowess, brought forward the following points not as yet contested "We deny that the authority of the Roman church did not rise above other churches before the time of Pope Sylvester," that is, Eck maintained that Rome was not indebted to the gift of Constantine for its primacy. The challenge was in fact addressed to Luther, and he accepted it boldly, foreseeing darkly its consequences. He put forth, in reply, fresh Theses, in which he maintained, "It is by contemptible decretals of Roman Pontiffs, composed hardly four centuries ago, that it is attempted to prove the primacy of the Roman church; but arrayed against this claim are eleven centuries of credible history, the express declarations of Scripture, and the conclusions. of the Council of Nice, the most venerable of all the councils." Luther's friends were alarmed by the subject-matter of dispute, the Pope's primacy! The discussion proposed between Eck and Carlostadt was to be held at Leipsic, but Duke George of Sax Coburgh refused to allow Luther to take any part in it, except as a spectator. The bishop of the Diocese endeavored to prevent the discussion; but the Duke insisted upon it. It was a great day for Leipsic when the processions of the disputants arrived. Eck himself won over the Duke to allow Luther to take a part. It was difficult to settle the preliminaries. Eck, relying on his action and delivery, more than on his argument, objected to the taking down of the dispute by notaries. Here he was overruled. Then he demanded that judges should inspect the notes before publication, proposing first the Pope, and then certain Universities. Luther refused to discuss on this condition, but being taunted with fear he complied, reserving to himself the right of appeal, and declining the jurisdiction of Rome. The discussion began on June 27, after solemn mass, and pompous processions. The disputants were reminded from the pulpit, that they were not duellists. This was the last moment when one communion bound together all professed Christians. The discussion began between Eck and Carlostadt; the former objected on seeing the Bible and the Fathers on his adversary's pulpit, and it was agreed, that both should trust to the

memory and the tongue. The dispute between them turned upon the subject of free-will; Eck maintaining that good works predisposed men to the reception of the grace of God, Carlostadt, that man's will previous to his conversion could do no good work. The dispute and its termination were unsatisfactory, and much hostile feeling was excited even in the streets. On July 4, the contest commenced between Eck and Luther. Eck based the primacy of Rome on divine right. Luther acknowledged the Pope as chief magistrate of the Church, because freely chosen by it, as the bishop of Paris or of Madgeburg, might have been chosen, but not of divine right. "Upon this rock I will build my church," were the disputed words; Eck contending that the "rock" was the primacy_of Peter, Luther, that it was the Messiahship of Jesus. Eck being worsted, in an appeal to the Fathers, endeavored to create a feeling against Luther by likening his sentiments to those of the Bohemians, who under the influence of Huss had made dissension in the Church. Luther parried the blow by censuring the Bohemians for breaking the unity of faith. His friends chiding him for this, he soon declared boldly that Wiclif and Huss, in maintaining that the Roman church was not superior to all others, maintained the truth. His words raised a great tumult. Wiclif and Huss spoken of with respect by a monk in a Catholic assembly! From that hour Duke George looked with an evil eye on the Reformer, and became his enemy. The discussion lasted five days, creating intense excitement all through the city. Two more days they spent upon Purgatory, Luther in some sense admitting it. Then indulgences, repentance, absolution, and satisfactions were discussed, Eck appealing to the scholastic divines, the dominicans, and the Pope's Canons; Luther, to the Scriptures. The discussion which continued, in all, twenty days, attended by an immense concourse of laymen, knights, princes, and ecclesiastics, now closed. It is said, however, that some of the divines slept so soundly as well nigh to lose their dinners. No decision was made. Eck acknowledged, to his friends, his defeat on many points; but in public he boasted loudly of victory. But Luther had made many converts even in Eck's party, and among others Prince George of Anhalt. The students especially felt the quickening influences of new doctrines. Leipsic was deserted, Wittemberg was thronged. Among its new members was Gaspard Cruciger, afterwards the friend of Melancthon, and fellow laborer with

Luther in translating the Scriptures. Melancthon first learned at Leipsic to become a theologian instead of a scholar. Thus far had Luther gone, but as yet, he said, he "could not see that of necessity, and beyond doubt, the Pope is of the devil." He published, at this time, his first Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, full of justification by faith. He next attacked the power of the Pope to canonize saints. Then his thoughts were busied with the sacrament of the Supper, and he maintained against the Church, that faith was necessary to the receiver, and that the people were entitled both to the bread and wine. Eck meeting but cold support, and much ridicule, went to Rome for aid. The crisis approaches.

The

Book VI. "The Roman Bull," 1520. pp. 87-211. The Diet assembled at Frankfort to choose a successor to Maximilian. The imperial crown was offered to Frederick, the friend of Luther; and when refused by him, to Charles, the grandson of Maximilian. Luther wrote to the young king, while still at Madrid, a supplicatory letter, but received no answer. Universities of Cologne and Louvain condemned Luther's writings, and his death was considered needful and just. Endeavors were made at Rome to induce the Elector to give up the Reformer; but he wisely replied, that Germany was full of his doctrine, that Scripture truth and not violence could alone suppress them. Amidst the darkness which now hung over the path of Luther, a light of hope suddenly shined. Many of the German nobility determined to guard his life with theirs. June 23, he published his appeal to the emperor and the German nobility, on the reformation of Christianity. It is a bold, noble, and popular protest, against the corruptions of Rome, the supremacy, temporal power, and pretensions of the Pope, the rapacity and authority of ecclesiastics. "Hear this, O Pope! not most holy, but most sinning. May God, from his throne on high, hurl thy throne ere long to the bottomless pit." Then he bastinadoed the "slothful crew of monks," "the vagabond friars," and for the first mentioning the subject he demands that marriage be allowed to the clergy. Festivals should be abolished, or at least only the mornings of the greater ones be observed, and the afternoon kept for work. The Universities and schools must be purified. Four thousand copies of the appeal were at once sold, and circulated from the palace to the cottage. They set all Germany in a flame. There was no longer a doubt that the Pope was Antichrist. Rome saw her danger;